Minus Nine to One

The Diary of an Honest Mum

Imagine that you are pregnant. You not only have the usual problems of morning sickness and tiredness to contend with. You became pregnant only three months after giving birth to your first child so you have a non-walking toddler which you are still breastfeeding. Your husband is a talented, driven, workaholic who often works from early morning until 1am the next morning and travels abroad regularly. Add to that the fact that your husband’s celebrity status means that every time you go out you run the risk of a member of the paparazzi sticking a camera lens in your face.

If you love to be nosey about other people’s pregnancies this is the book for you. Starting with her fertility problems causes by PCOS she discusses candidly her fertility treatment, her first pregnancy and birth. Then she explains how she became pregnant so soon after having her first baby – having seduced her husband with the aid of a home-made lamb casserole and fruit crumble!

The book is loaded with useful pregnancy girl talk. Jools is honest about doing the insane, paranoid things we all did when we were pregnant (but tried to cover up!) all the stupid things you buy and how you massively over pack your hospital bag (don’t worry, we’ve all been there).

There are also some important warnings – yes, you can get pregnant while you are breastfeeding and yes, those pelvic floor exercises are vital.

The book includes a glossary of terms although it does not attempt to be a comprehensive book on pregnancy, along with a list of things that she found genuinely useful and things not to buy plus some favourite websites and shops (all in London unfortunately).

Of course from a family where food is such an important subject there are some tried and tested recipes that are favourites of little Poppy and Daisy. I just think it’s a shame she didn’t give us her recipe for lamb casserole………..